China's Judicial Reforms

China has carried out three rounds of judicial reform.The third-round judicial reform continued from the beginning of 2014 to September 2017. The Supreme People's Court of China has implemented many reform measures in the third-round judicial reform, which deeply affects the current operating mechanisms of Chinese courts.

The judge quota system refers to the system for determining the number of judges in the court. In the judicial reform, the SPC attempts to rationally determine the number of judges in each court in a scientific way and then select the right candidate to serve as a judge.

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China has implemented many reform measures in the third-round judicial reform, which deeply affects the current operating mechanisms of Chinese courts. Therefore, if you want to know how Chinese courts work, you must understand what the SPC did in the third-round judicial reform.

Before rendering a judgment, a Chinese judge shall undergo review and approval by his/her superiors, who haven't tried the case. This practice has existed in China until recently, when China’s Supreme People Court has ruled out the practice in part in the latest round of judicial reform (2014-2017).

Improving the judicial accountability system, one of the most important measures in Chinese judicial reform, is supposed to hold judges accountable for life for cases they handle and to effectively discipline judges for misconduct. Prior to this, Chinese judges were never subject to such strict requirements.